


Free (Finn Appreciation Week - Day 1)

by orphan_account



Series: Finn Appreciation Week 2018 [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Domestic, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Politician Finn, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A sleepless night on Coruscant, the day before Finn has an important speech to do before the Senate.





	Free (Finn Appreciation Week - Day 1)

When Finn joined Poe in bed in the middle of the night, his husband was sound asleep, tightly clutching his pillow. Finn was exhausted, but once he slid under the covers, sleep escaped him. Staring at the ceiling, thoughts raced in his mind, all of them about the pile of reports from the former Stormtrooper's settlements scattered through the Galaxy. The Rehabilitation Program he oversaw and fought for before the Senate wasn't working as well as he had intended. Raised from birth  to kill for the First Order, the former troopers had difficulties adjusting to a life of peace and, for now, relative freedom. There were encouraging signs, but Finn worried it wouldn't be enough to convince the Senate to keep funding the program.

It would be a disaster if the program was shut down, Finn thought. Tension coiled in his chest. If he wasn't convincing enough before the Senate tomorrow, he would doom the program, and with it, the future the troopers could have in the Republic. 

Realizing these thoughts wouldn't leave him tonight, Finn carefully tossed the sheets aside, glancing at Poe to make sure he hadn't woken him up. He left the bedroom on his tiptoes. They stored their clothes in a separate dressing room, so whenever one wanted or needed to leave the apartment while the other was asleep, they wouldn't wake him up.  Finn put on a long sleeved shirt and a coat over his sleep pants, and slid his bare feet in his favorite pair of boots. In the main kitchen-dining-living-room area, BB-8 put itself out of low power mode, rolling slowly towards him.

"Hey," Finn murmured. The astromech beeped curiously at him.

"Don't worry, I'm just going outside to clear my head a little. I'll be back before Poe even notices I'm gone." Finn crouched down and rubbed the droid's dome head, before standing up and leaving the apartment.

Minutes later, Finn flew out of the residential complex in his speeder, roof open and wind blowing in his face as he accelerated and took the main street.

 

It never felt like the sun truly set on Coruscant. Even at this hour, the sky was a shade of dark brown-green rather than the deep blue Finn remembered from his time on Resistance bases at the edge of the Galaxy. The stars in the sky had lost their fight against the bright city lights hundreds of years ago. The streets were much less busier at this hour than they were during daytime, when Finn found the crowds and the agitation unbearable. He tuned into the musical broadcast. A cheerful pop song played over the sound of the speeder's engine. The lyrics were about finding the love of one's life, and dreaming of a peaceful future with them.

It had been eight years and six months since he left the First Order, and almost five years since the Resistance won the war and proclaimed the Republic. Yet, it still felt extraordinary to him that he could leave his place in the middle of the night without anyone stopping to ask him where he was going. Without the feeling of breaking a rule, the fear of getting caught and punished for it. He wore his own damn clothes like everyone else instead of being forced into an uniform, he owned things that were  _ his  _ instead of being provided by an all-powerful, all-seeing totalitarian organisation. His current outfit would make older Senators frown, he was sure of it. Finn laughed, imagining their reaction if they saw him in his sleep pants. He didn't care. He could do whatever he wanted, now.

He parked his speeder at a 24/7 mall. He walked among other sleepless shoppers, some of them recognizing him - glancing at him with surprise, sympathy or barely concealed hostility. Not everyone supported the initiative towards the former First Order troopers. Finn didn't care tonight. He could handle himself if someone tried to attack him. And he had all the rights in the world to be here.

Most of the mall goers didn't notice him, however. People suffering from insomnia, some of them as casually dressed as Finn, party goers making a detour on their way home, evening shift workers going grocery shopping. Free citizens just living their lives without fear of being killed or sent to jail. Like everyone else in the Galaxy should feel.

Finn waited in line at the ice cream stand and with a big grin, bought the biggest cup size of barabel fruit sherbet available.

 

Coming home, he was greeted by BB-8 rolling into his legs. Poe was up, sitting at the kitchen bar, his features illuminated by the glow coming from his datapad.

"Did I wake you up?" Finn asked as he put the frozen treat on the counter.

Poe shook his head. "Had a nightmare. Figured I could wait here for you, or for sleep to come back."

Finn gave Poe a sympathetic look. He knew Poe's situation all too well. Neither of them had taken a full night of sleep for granted since the war was over.

Poe reached for the cup and tilted it towards him with interest. "Barabel?"

Finn shrugged. "You know me." He opened the kitchen drawer and took two spoons, handing one to Poe. 

"That's what I want for the former troopers," Finn said after they both ate a few spoonfuls of ice cream in silence.

"Barabel sherbert?" Poe deadpanned, and Finn grinned, resisting the urge to both burst out laughing and smack Poe's hand. To his husband's credit, his reflexion really seemed to come out of nowhere.

"I meant being able to go out at night like that, without getting arrested or monitored. Making little and big choices, be it ice cream flavor or the place to raise the children they might want to have some day. All of that, you and the people of the Republic see it as a right. I still see it as a privilege for me, a privilege the troopers don't have. But I know it's a right, everyone's right, and it needs to be a right for the troopers too." He swallowed hard, feeling the tension coming back in his chest. "If I mess up tomorrow, the Rehabilitation program will be shut down as the Senate will withdraw its funding. What will happen to them? They will be sent to prison the second the Republic suspect they do something wrong; or they will join some Empire nostalgics and the cycle will start again." He covered his face with his hands. So much for clearing out his head. He felt worse than before he left.

Finn sensed the tip of Poe's fingers on his left wrist. He looked at Poe through his fingers.

"You won't mess up tomorrow," Poe said calmly. He was smiling, that warm smile that never failed to make Finn feel better.

"But what if they say no tomorrow?"

"Then you will figure something out. We will figure something out. Like he always did, remember?"

Poe's eternal optimism always managed to reassure Finn. Poe was right. It wasn't the first issue that seemed impossible to solve they encountered. They always found the solution.

He let himself be guided by Poe back to their bedroom. They slid together under the sheets, Poe wrapping his arms around Finn's waist, his chest to Finn's back. 

Finn didn't know if he would convince the Senators tomorrow.

But he knew that even if he didn't, it didn't mean that his fight was over. It only meant that it had only begun.


End file.
